Sisterly Love
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Paige gives Piper a motherhood present, but will Piper find it lacking?


Title: "Sisterly Love"  
Author: Pirate Turner  
Rating: G  
Spoilers: If you know Piper's pregnant and are aware of the fourth Halliwell and Prue's fate, you're perfectly safe.  
Summary: Paige gives Piper a motherhood present, but will Piper find it lacking?  
Disclaimer: Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell; Paige Matthews; Leo Wyatt; and Charmed are all © & TM Spelling Television Inc. and are used without permission. Everything else is © & TM Pirate Turner.

The young woman stepped back as she cautiously examined the thing before her. She still held a brush in one hand when one of her sisters came into the room. The other woman stopped and stared, her eyes wide, at the same thing that her younger sister was looking at.

"Do you think she'll like it?" the redhead asked, her features etched in both concern and criticism of her work.

"Paige, she'll love it!" the brunette exclaimed. "How couldn't she? It's beautiful!"

Her lips pulled up into a small grin as Paige slowly turned around to face her older sister. "Are you sure?" she asked her, carefully watching her eyes and face for any sign that whatever might leave her red lips might be anything other than the truth.

"Absolutely!" the older woman exclaimed, still staring in awe at the item. "I wish I had just an _inkling_ of your talent!"

Paige's grin grew even larger as it blossomed into a full smile. "Thanks, Phoebe. That really means a lot to me, but you already have so many talents of your own -- your premonitions, your advising, your _womanly_ ways," Paige added with a mischievous grin and a twitch of her nose that hinted at something much less innocent than what she had said.

"Oh, hush, you!" Phoebe exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as the laughter that had been so rare to leave her lips in the last several months bubbled freely from her mouth.

* * *

"Piper?"

The eldest living Halliwell turned from the stove at the sound of her name, and she smiled at her youngest sister. "Yes, Paige?" Her brow creased slightly as she realized that Paige was hiding something behind her.

"I . . ." Paige paused a second, trying to form the right words even as she hoped for the thousandth time that Piper would truly like the gift she was about to give her. "I made something for you," she finally said. "I know you're not having a real shower, so this is just a little something . . . It's what I would've given you if you had."

"Well, let me see it," Piper said, her dark eyes shining at anticipation of what her younger sister had come up with even as she wondered why Paige was so nervous.

Slowly, Paige removed a large, square object from behind her back. The gift was wrapped in pink paper, and for a change, Piper did not make a rude comment about the light color. Seeing that the bottom had been left open, Piper reached out to the top and gently pulled the wrapping off. Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes went wide with astonished amazement and gratitude that Paige had gone to so much trouble for her at the revelation of the beautiful picture.

Piper's brown eyes quickly scanned every inch of the picture as she struggled to take in every single detail of its beauty. Tears welled in her heart and threatened to break into her eyes, but she batted them away. She was in the middle of the picture; Leo stood loyally to her right with one arm wrapped around her. His other arm helped hold the small bundle of blanket that she also held; as they held their baby close to them, a tiny hand reached up for its mother. Phoebe stood to her left, but the most beautiful figure of all was the image of Prue. She was larger than the rest of them, and her arms swept out to encircle her family.

Piper's smile was suddenly replaced by a frown as she stared at the picture, and Paige's heart, which until then had been soaring with pride at her sister's reaction, sank further than the floor beneath their feet. "It's missing something," Piper spoke as she stared at the space between Prue's left arm and Phoebe.

"What?" Paige asked, fighting to keep the disappointment and alarm from her voice. "What's it missing?"

Piper's eyes slowly rose from the picture to look at her sister. "You mean you honestly don't know?"

Paige shook her head in a motion that sent her short, red hair bobbing. "No. If I knew what it was missing, it wouldn't be missing!"

"You!" Piper exclaimed.

Paige's brow creased, and she took a small step back. "E-excuse me?" she asked innocently.

"Paige," Piper said, speaking more softly as she shook her head at her sister, "it's missing _you_!" When Paige still continued to look confused, Piper asked, "It's supposed to be a picture of my family, right?" Paige slowly nodded. "You're part of my family, too!" Piper exclaimed. "So why aren't you in the picture?"

Paige's head lowered so that she did not have to look directly into her sister's eyes. "I . . . didn't think you'd want me in it," she admittedly softly after another moment's hesitation.

"Paige!" Piper admonished in a sharp exclamation of disbelief. "What would make you think that!"

"Because . . . " the youngest Halliwell spoke slowly. "Because I'm not . . . "

"Because you're not Prue?" Piper finished for her, her eyebrows rose slightly. "Paige, honey, how many times do we have to tell you?" Piper said, her concern for her sister clear on her face. "You're not Prue, but we don't expect you to be. You're you, and you're still our sister. I wish we could have gotten to meet you while Prue was still alive -- she would have loved you -- but, Prue or no Prue, you're still our sister. I'll always love Prue, but I'll always love you too!"

"You mean it?" Paige asked quietly, her voice breaking with emotion as she slowly looked up at Piper.

"Of course I mean it!" Piper exclaimed, her dark eyes flashing slightly. "Now come here and give your sister a hug," she added with a smile.

Paige's frown broke into a grin as she held the picture out at arm's length in one direction and opened her other arm to her sister. Piper maneuvered her large belly to one side as she stepped into Paige's offered embrace. Her arms encircled her sister's smaller frame as she drew her into the tightest hug her enlarged stomach would allow. When they parted, Piper spoke again. "Dinner's got a ways to go yet before it'll be done. Why don't you go finish that picture in the mean time?"

"Okay," Paige smoke with a nod, her smile lighting up her face.

* * *

The brush swept over the canvas as its wielder carefully added the last stroke. Paige stepped back from her art and examined it once more with a scrutinizing eye even as silent footsteps brought another woman into the room. Piper smiled at the scene before her. "It's perfect," she spoke, her voice breaking the silence and causing Paige to jump slightly in surprise.

"I didn't hear you come in," the youngest Halliwell said as she turned around to face her eldest sister.

Piper grinned. "Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean that I have to sound like a herd of buffalo."

Paige smiled as she looked from her sister back to the picture. "So what do you _really_ think of it now?" she asked hopefully.

Piper's eyes again admired the picture of her family. The addition of Paige's figure perfectly filled the void between Phoebe and Prue's left arm. Although her family would never truly be complete as long as Prue was gone from them, the picture was. As she examined it, she crossed over to stand beside her sister. Suddenly, she felt unseen arms envelope her, and she knew Prue was standing right behind her just as she was in the picture. Her emotions finally took over as tears began to spill from her eyes. "It's beautiful," she whispered softly, "and perfect, sister."

Paige turned to smile at Piper and was surprised to find her crying. "Are you okay?" she asked her.

"I'm fine. I miss Prue. I always will, but I know she's with us. Our family's complete." Paige embraced Piper, and then she too felt the unseen arms wrap around them.

"Piper, what time's . . . " Phoebe abruptly stopped speaking as she took in the scene before her. She wondered what was going on for she knew that it must have been much more than Paige's present that had brought such a reaction. Not a word was spoken between the sisters as Phoebe walked over and joined in the hug. Realization dawned as Prue also wrapped her arms around Phoebe, and the four clung silently to each other.

**The End**


End file.
